markets - report.lindt-spruengli.com · growth in swiss francs of +4.8% – despite persistently...

Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG achieved sales growth in Swiss francs of +4.8% – despite persistently chal-lenging conditions – and group sales of CHF 4.1 billion. This is a solid performance, especially given the largely saturated chocolate markets, the changing retail landscape and grow-ing pressure on prices. The results reported in Europe and the “Rest of the World” segments are worth particular mention, as is the steady development of the Group’s own network of shops, whose sales reached half a billion Swiss francs for the first time. In the last financial year, Lindt & Sprüngli once again succeeded in outperforming the chocolate market as a whole and expanding its market share in almost every market region.

The foreign currency situation was also fairly volatile in 2017, but the strong euro in particular had a positive effect overall on the consolidated sales reported in Swiss francs. The euro made significant gains against the Swiss franc, and pound sterling was also stronger, whereas the US dollar ini-tially weakened but then bounced back again towards the end of the financial year. The organic growth reported for the whole group was at +3.7%.

Viewed overall, the situation in raw material markets has improved compared with the previous year. Prices for cocoa beans and cocoa butter dropped sharply during the 2016/17 harvest period. Prices for hazelnuts and almonds were generally stable, with a slight downward trend. Sugar prices were virtually unchanged in 2017, while milk prices increased. However, the positive market trends were heavily influenced by the soaring price of vanilla. Vanilla is an ingre-dient that is used in premium chocolate products.

Markets

Despite challenging conditions in 2017, Lindt & Sprüngli achieved sales of more than CHF 4 billion for the first time. The company increased its group sales by +4.8% in Swiss francs and gained market share in almost all of its markets.

Europe

European chocolate markets are largely saturated. Despite this backdrop, Lindt & Sprüngli once again managed to achieve a positive result in this region. Lindt & Sprüngli per-formed particularly well in mature markets such as Germany, the UK, Italy, Austria and Spain, but also achieved double- digit growth rates in less developed markets like the Nor-dics, Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Overall, Lindt & Sprüngli reported excellent results in this region, with or-ganic sales growth of +6.2%, to reach CHF 1.9 billion. Consumer sentiment in Switzerland was generally good in 2017, although there was a decline in the Swiss choco - late market. Even so – and despite the ongoing trend for cross-border shopping as well as the continuing expansion of hard discounters – Lindt & Sprüngli produced a positive performance and was one of the few chocolate manufactur-ers able to increase its sales in this market environment.

In Germany, consumer sentiment also improved in 2017, continuing the trend of previous years. Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased, while the unem-ployment rate dropped to its lowest level since reunification. In the UK, the Brexit referendum had a negative effect on economic growth and consumer sentiment. Meanwhile in France, companies benefited from a significantly improved trading environment in the wake of the presidential elec-tions. Lindt & Sprüngli still managed to achieve positive sales growth in France, despite a modest dip in the overall choc-olate market. In Italy, the political and economic situation also stabilized after several difficult years plagued by high unemployment.

L I N D T & S PRÜ N G L IMAÎTRE CHOCOLATIER SUISSE DEPUIS 1845

A N N UA L R E P ORT 2 017m A r K E T S — 1 2

A N N UA L R E P ORT 2 017m A r K E T S — 13

Europe CHF 1.93 billion

Sales Lindt & Sprüngli Group 2017

NAFTA CHF 1.63 billion

Rest of the World CHF 0.52 billion

25subsidiaries

CHF 185 million

Investment volume

14,000employees

TotalCHF 4.088 billion



SwitzerlandChocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli (Schweiz) AG achieved sales of CHF 376 million in the 2017 fiscal year (previous year: CHF 356 million), equivalent to +5.6% growth. This figure includes both the Swiss market and the export busi-ness, which is mainly covered in the financial reporting in the segment “Rest of the World”. Both those areas have con-tributed to the Group’s overall growth, despite the challeng-ing market conditions. In a contracting Swiss chocolate mar-ket, Lindt managed to significantly expand its market share in 2017 in the pralinés and chocolate bar segment.

The stronger focus on the brands Lindor, Connaisseurs, Kirschstängeli, Excellence, the milk chocolate line Gamme Bleue, Les Grandes, as well as the Lindt Gold Bunny and Teddy, which are all No. 1 in their respective categories, has paid off. Successful new product varieties, such as Excellence Pink Grapefruit, Les Grandes fruit line and the “extra strong” Kirschstängeli Edition, helped to boost sales growth and expand market share. The launch of new product varieties was supported by numerous tasting activities. The range of communication media has been extended to include online videos, social media and influencer campaigns so as to reach out to more consumers and increase the market penetration of Lindt products.

The successful launch of Sensation Fruit enabled Lindt to generate growth in the new snacking segment in addition

to the more traditional segments of chocolate bars and pra-linés. The roll-out was supported by a comprehensive pack-age of media campaigns and promotional activities which even resulted in market leadership for a while. By rolling out high-quality Lindt displays in the Denner and Manor super-markets, as well as in premium “shop-in-shops” in other lo-cations, Lindt set new standards in high-end brand presenta-tions at sales points. This style of premium brand showcasing has created strong growth momentum.

One of the emotional highlights of 2017 was the Easter campaign in children’s hospitals with the slogan “Freude schenken” (Gifting happiness). Lindt & Sprüngli arranged a special surprise for around 700 children in 10 different hos-pitals across Switzerland. The young patients who had to spend Easter in hospital were given the chance to experience a mag-ical Easter world. In the Children’s Hospital in Basel, the person bringing this good news was the tennis superstar and Lindt brand ambassador Roger Federer. As well as this campaign, Lindt & Sprüngli made a donation of CHF 75,000 to three in-dividual Swiss hospitals to help fund individual projects.

In 2018, Lindt & Sprüngli Schweiz AG will invest more than CHF 30 million in expanding and modernizing the Lindt Swiss Cocoa Center at its Olten production site. This expansion is seen as a key project for Switzerland as a busi-ness location and safeguards the long-term supply of cocoa mass for Lindt & Sprüngli’s European production plants.

The Lindor Roger Federer Fan Edition.




Since 2009 our successful Lindt brand ambassador Roger Federer stands in a unique way for Lindt’s values such as “quality, premiumness, Swissness and passion”. According to the slogan “gifting happiness” he surprised children with Lindt chocolate in a Children’s Hospital in Basel who had to stay in hospital for Easter 2017.

20. GRAND SLAM TITLE

We congratulate Roger Federer on his historical victory in Melbourne,

Australia.

Roger is again

No. 1of the tennis world!



Germany With sales worth EUR 545 million, Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli GmbH (Deutschland) once again managed to achieve strong sales growth that comfortably exceeded Ger-many’s chocolate market as a whole. The subsidiary further increased its share of the German market, with impressive sales growth of +8.0%.

The strategic focus on successful classics such as Lindor, Excellence, Mini Pralinés and hollow chocolate figures, as well as the launch of numerous product innova-tions, once more generated additional growth in 2017. These offerings were once again augmented by seasonal design editions, such as Gold Bunnies with appealing flower designs, the Lindor Gold products for Christmas and Lindor flower- design products for Easter.

The successful Excellence chocolate bar containing 78% cocoa and Pink Grapefruit of the successful Excellence range made a key contribution to sales growth and increased the market share in the high cocoa segment. The introduction of a new product range “à la Macarons” which includes

chocolate bars as well as Mini Pralinés was an important focus during this business year. The products which are inspired by the French classic are a combination of Lindt chocolate with creamy fillings and crispy meringue pieces.

The young lifestyle brand Hello once again made a splash with attractive recipe additions to its product range such as Blueberry Muffin and Lemon Cheesecake as well as focusing on marketing campaigns for younger consumers.

Germany’s leading magazine for the food industry, Lebensmittel Zeitung, named Lindor as the top brand in 2017 – from a field of more than 5,000 rivals. This highlights the success of the core products and lays an excellent foun-dation for future growth.

FranceLindt & Sprüngli SAS (France) can look back on another pos-itive year, with sales increasing by +1.2% to EUR 355 million (previous year: EUR 351 million). Businesses benefited from a significantly improved economic environment in the wake of the French presidential elections. Lindt once again man-aged to strengthen its strong market position as the country’s second-biggest chocolate manufacturer.

Over the past year, innovative taste variations such as Pink Grapefruit, Pink Peppercorn and a recipe contain-ing 78% cocoa were added to the popular chocolate bar line Excellence, and the products with a higher cocoa content have quickly become favorites with consumers. The top- selling classic Lindor once again achieved double-digit sales growth and was augmented by Lindor bars and mini eggs. The new Orange and Strawberry taste variations, novel up-market sales concepts, a strong retail sales presence, numerous prod-uct tastings and TV campaigns all helped to boost Lindor sales.

Sensation Fruit, one of the most successful innovations in the French market, achieved encouraging sales growth. The new taste combinations Orange & Pink Grapefruit attracted a lot of publicity through a large-scale campaign targeting younger consumers. Lindt expanded its strong market pres-ence in the Christmas business with its new line of festive pra-linés Champs-Elysées Féerie, and launched the Les Pyrénéens

Mini Pralinés à la Macarons, a delicious combination of Lindt chocolate with creamy fillings and crispy meringues pieces.




Pralinés with a new coconut recipe. Sales channels were ex-tended to smaller shop formats in large cities with high sales growth, so consumers have less far to travel to buy their favor-ite Lindt products.

ItalyIn Italy, Lindt & Sprüngli S.p.A. (Italy) and Caffarel S.p.A. re-ported consolidated sales of EUR 232 million (previous year: EUR 223 million), equivalent to sales growth of pleasing +4.0%, Lindt & Sprüngli managed to expand its Italian market share again in a far more stable trading environment.

Lindt Italy outperformed the overall market and man-aged to gain significant shares in the pralinés and chocolate bar segment, as well as in the seasonal business. The leading brands Lindor and Excellence were supported by two ma-jor product launches: Lindor 70% and Excellence 78%. The Lindt Excellence line achieved double-digit sales growth. Lin-dor Milk was once again the bestseller in this assortment in 2017. In response to the current trend towards dark choco-late, Lindt Italy launched a new Lindor recipe with 70% cocoa and an intense cocoa aroma. Supported by influencer cam-paigns, the launch of the successful Mini Pralinés became a viral hit on social media and was a huge success at Eurochoc-olate, the annual chocolate festival held in Perugia. At Easter, Lindt aired a new TV campaign tailored to the Italian market for the first time and promoting not only the Lindt Gold

Bunny but two successful Italian icons: the Lindor Easter egg and Lindt Noccior.

In 2017, Caffarel S.p.A. managed to increase sales in a difficult trade environment due to the implementation of a new distribution strategy. The company introduced new dis-tribution channels and product segments in order to reduce its dependence on the traditional trade, which is continuing to suffer in its more established formats, whilst showing signs of development of new approaches and formats. The export business recorded strong growth following the successful entry into other markets such as the US, UK and France, Japan and Middle East. One highlight of the year has been the opening of the first Caffarel Shop in downtown Turin.

United Kingdom/Ireland Despite the challenging market environment, 2017 was an-other positive year for Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd. (UK), with dy-namic double-digit sales growth of +10.6%, to reach a total of GBP 171 million in the UK and Ireland with significant mar-ket share gains in all categories. The Lindor brand achieved stronger growth than the overall market, confirming its No. 1 position in this category in the UK and securing the cat-egory lead in Ireland for the first time. Lindor is one of the top 100 brands in both the UK and Ireland and was able to attract many new consumers with new taste variations including Lindor Peppermint.

Lindt Sensation Fruits – one of the most successful product innovations from France.

New Lindt Excellence recipe with 78% cocoa.



Lindt launched a series of successful Easter campaigns to reach out to families. The Easter treasure hunt for the Gold Bunny, with product tastings, organized in collaboration with six Royal Horticultural Society gardens, in premium shopping centers and, for the first time, in Hampton Court Palace were all a big success. In Ireland, brand awareness and interaction with consumers were increased through an ac-tivity, giving consumers the opportunity to personalize their own Gold Bunny in return for a donation to Lindt’s charity partner, Temple Street Children’s Hospital. The Lindt Teddy with the Christmas sweater was again a top seller, available this time in a traditional green color.

impressive sales growth of +10.4%. In a stagnant market en-vironment, the focus on Lindor, Excellence, product innova-tion and the seasonal business helped the subsidiary to gain significant market shares. Lindor posted an impressive result with the sales of its new Milk Orange variety. Posting double- digit growth, the Excellence line further strengthened its lead-ing position. The nationwide launch of the Sensation Fruit innovation went down extremely well with consumers and has enjoyed a successful debut in the marketplace. In the import-ant seasonal business, another milestone was already reached at the start of the year: Lindt’s Gold Bunny is now the No. 1 Easter product. Consumers were drawn into the Easter spir-it with eye-catching displays in big department stores and Austria’s biggest Easter bunny hunt for the Gold Bunny in the Botanical Gardens of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace.

SpainLindt & Sprüngli (España) S.A. enhanced previous year’s de-velopment and reported encouraging sales growth of +9.9% for 2017, with growth outstripping the overall market par-ticularly in the chocolate bar and pralinés segment. Lindor and Excellence were once again the strongest growth drivers in the Spanish market. Lindt made a successful entry into Spain’s snacking segment with the launch of Sensation Fruit. Lindor and Excellence were once again the strongest growth drivers in the Spanish market.

NordicsLindt & Sprüngli (Nordic) AB, which includes the markets of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, had again a very successful year, posting double-digit sales growth of +12.4%. Lindt’s performance is particularly strong in Sweden, where it further expanded its leading position thanks to a consistent communication focus on our “Competence in Dark Choc-olate” innovations, the Excellence product range achieved therefor a very dynamic performance. The iconic hollow figures furthermore accelerated the growth in the whole region. In Denmark and Finland, Lindt focused on the seasonal business at Easter and Christmas.

Eastern Europe Lindt & Sprüngli CEE s.r.o., which includes the markets of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, once again achieved double-digit growth of +13.4% in 2017, expanding its market share significantly in both the Czech Republic and

The successful Teddy Crew, which has taken England by storm.

Lindt Gold Bunny personalization for the benefit of the Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin.

Austria Lindt & Sprüngli (Austria) GmbH once again managed to improve on the performance of previous years, achieving




Slovakia. The successful brands Lindor and Excellence were major drivers of this sales growth, while the seasonal business performed well, thanks to successful advertising campaigns for the Lindt Gold Bunny and the Lindt Teddy. In 2017, the Gold Bunny was yet again the top seller among hollow choc-olate figures, while the established itself as a popular icon in the Christmas business.

Poland Lindt & Sprüngli (Poland) Sp. z.o.o. managed to achieve ex-tremely impressive sales growth of +22.1%. Lindt experienced the fastest growth in the chocolate bar and pralinés segment, where it gained substantial market share. In strategic terms, marketing activities were focused on the most important brands, Lindor and Excellence. Both brands outperformed the market and significantly increased their visibility in the retail trade. Expanding distribution through smaller retail trade channels not only boosted sales, but also improved market penetration.

RussiaLindt & Sprüngli (Russia) LLC once again achieved solid double- digit sales growth of +24.5%. The two brands Excel-lence and Lindor were the biggest growth drivers for this subsidiary’s impressive performance in one of the world’s fastest-growing and biggest chocolate markets and gained again important market shares. Lindt continued the expan-sion of its own retail business and opened its second Lindt Shop in Moscow.

Austria’s biggest Easter bunny hunt included many exciting activities in the Botanical Gardens of Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace.

In Poland especially the Lindt Excellence bars with high cocoa content are very popular.



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